Safety Tips!
1.
Make sure to wear goggles and gloves when chemical testing.
2.
Put on bug spray before leaving the building to go outside.
3.
Wear the appropriate clothing and shoes when going into the Backwoods.
4.
Wash out materials in between each test so you do not contaminate your
samples.
5.
Dispose of stereological pipette after using it for each experiment.
6.
Dispose of nutrient agar plates correctly after use; meaning to place
them in a designated area where bio hazardous items can be disposed of.
7.
Clean lab station with alcohol after each experiment so nothing will be
contaminated.
Problems & Suggestions
1.
Time management: creating a calendar will help with organization and it
is highly recommended. We used the calendar preset on Google Sheets and
shared it with all of our group members so everybody could access and
edit it. Calendars are quite crucial when working on a project that
deals with protozoa and bacteria because the tests require lots of time
in between steps. If you can only be in the lab at certain times in the
day like us, it's good to plan put what to do and when to do it to
maximize efficiency!
Example: You can't plan on sifting your soil and rehydrating it at 3 o'clock, if you plan on leaving at 4 o'clock. The saturated soil can only sit for 7 hours. You should either be ready to put to put the soil in the Uhlig extractor or the fridge. Additionally, you cannot put your samples into the Uhlig extractor on friday, if you are not planning on being at your experiment site during the weekend. They can only sit for 24 hours.Thoroughly think and plan timing before you begin your experiment.
2.
Map out your time so that you know what each group member should be
doing at each point in a day. Some steps for this experiment required
two things to be done at once (like serial dilutions and sifting soil
for protozoa tests), or require a certain amount of time between tests
(like soil drying or bacteria sitting for 48-72 hours) and so it is
crucial to time things so that the steps don't all pile up. How we timed
things was by completing two experiments at the same time so everything
would not be delayed or unorganized.
Supplies
1.
Soil Extractor (Ours is from Oakfield Apparatus)
2.
Mallet (only use this if soil extractor will not go into the ground)
3.
Plastic sandwich bags
4.
Pen/pencil and a notebook
5.
Distilled Water and a 1 liter bottle
6.
Water to stay hydrated
7.
Bacteria growth media plates
8.
Test tubes
9.
Stereological pipettes (We got ours from TPP)
10. Cups and mesh to create extractors
11. Funnel and holder
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